Guys Night Out
by RiotRunner
Summary: Ever wonder what would happen if there was a guys night out between Percy, Nico, Jason, Leo and Frank? Their conversations get weird as they break all borders of awkwardness. Discover WHY there are no nights off for these demigods. *Contains Percabeth among others.*
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I definitely do not own Percy Jackson.

_Okay, so, I know what you're thinking. My gods, another story? _

_Well, yes. I love writing and, let's face it, this is a step toward humor for me. My other two stories are quite depressing and angsty. This is meant to be fun and a bit more humorous. Well, a lot more humorous. Anyways!  
_

_Warning: may be a bit Out of Character.  
_

_This, I guess, takes place after the whole Gaea thing in the ongoing series, sooo... yeah. It takes place a good few months afterward. Review, please! I love getting ideas and if you have an idea for a chapter, let me know and I'll give you credit in the Author's Note if you thought of the chapter! These are all Guys Night Out chapters, so usually, Annabeth, Thalia, Hazel, Piper, they won't be in it unless it's short. Sorry. They can definitely be mentioned though.  
_

_No flames, please leave ideas! Thanks!  
_

_Contains: Percabeth, Hazel/Frank, Piper/Jason, (possible) Thalia/Leo, Nico/? (I don't have anyone for him)  
_

* * *

"This..." Leo began as he took a big breath of the outside air. "Was a _great _idea."

Percy couldn't help but grin. The outside air whistled softly against the trees and rustled the fallen leaves that rested motionless on the forest floor. The moon peeked between the high risen clouds, letting its soft white rays flutter down from the skies. But it wasn't the moon that lit up the forest; it was the small crackling campfire that was tamed by the pyrokinetic Leo Valdez.

His facial features were lightly illuminated by the orangish glow of the fire. He couldn't help but smile as he relaxed backward, letting himself get swallowed up by the serenity of the local scene.

"Yeah, Perce. Good call," Jason observed, nodding in his approval. Nico and Frank murmured their approval as well, each stuffing their faces with the marshmallows they'd snunk into the camp. Usually, outside food was prohibited, but thanks to the Stoll Brothers, smuggling food was a problem of the past.

"Thanks," Percy said with a wide grin. He took a swig of the soda that was gripped in his hand, ignoring the condensation that dampened his hand. "I'm glad Chiron thought it was good, too. Otherwise we may not have been allowed in the forest."

The chat between Percy and Chiron had been short- the centaur being quite adamant in Percy's request. It was a small question to have a Guy's Night- especially since they'd all survived the Gaea encounter with no deaths between their small group. The girls were all back at camp, blissfully unaware of the ongoing Guys Night.

"So, what do we do now?" Nico asked, swallowing his gooey marshmallow. The stick smoked a bit, the stench of fire wafting about the small group of guys.

Although they didn't have any bright ideas, Percy had a grin grow on his face once more.

Turning to Leo, he spoke. "So... what's this about you and Thalia, I hear?"

The effect was instantaneous.

Jason spit his soda all over the ground in front of him and a chorus of laughter rung from the other guys. The flames reacted with Leo's emotions and flared up with a few 'nervous' crackles.

"Wh-what are you talking about man? I have... _no _idea what you mean," Leo said, shielding his face. Jason rolled his eyes as his best friend's reaction, almost chuckling at the red blush that spanned across his face. Almost.

Leo, embarrassed, peered around the camp, keeping his eyes shielded. Frank laughed the loudest amongst the group and thus, drew Leo's ire.

"What about you, Frank?" Leo sputtered, turning the tables immediately as the window opened.

Frank stopped laughing and everyone turned to the son of Mars attentively. He raised his eyebrow.

"Thalia? Not my type," Frank said, causing Leo to scowl. The guys broke into laughter again.

"That's not what I meant!" Leo exclaimed. "I meant, you and Hazel?"

Percy made a wolf-whistle that drew him a punch from Nico. "Dude, my sister!"

"Yeah, so? Thalia's my sister," Jason said in between chuckles. It was true, although, they came from slightly different roots. Thalia was Greek whilst Jason was Roman. The only reason they'd met up was because of Juno/Hera's intervention. Right now, they were all visiting Camp-Half Blood due to the training and lack of monster activity.

Nico scowled. "You can't just talk about her dating Frank!"

"Can't we?" Percy asked grinning.

"Well, we are kind of... dating," Frank said with his face rivaling a tomato. The entire camp went up in 'ooohs' and whistles, further exposing Frank's embarrassment.

Percy, however, froze after he cheered, something dawning on him.

"Frank, mind if I ask you something?" Percy asked rather soberly. Frank just nodded, unable to speak.

Before Percy could ask, Nico decided to get back at his cousin. "How did you get your girl so fast? It took Percy like, 4 years to get Annabeth!"

Percy landed a swift punch into Nico's shoulder, not stunting the son of Hades laughter. The entire group was roaring in laughter at the situation. Percy snorted and resorted to basically pouting.

"Shut up, it was complicated," Percy said in a low voice. "Anyways!"

The laughter died down, Jason and Leo eagerly watching Percy. His grin had once again popped up, and they both recognized a shimmer of mischief in his eyes. Leo had long since learnt of Percy's joking side and how it could almost rival that of the Stolls.

"You're technically related to me, right?"

Frank contemplated the question, sticking a marshmallow onto his stick. After a moment, he answered.

"Yeah; I'm technically related to you. Like a cousin or something. Actually, it's like a uncle, twice removed, but it's easier to say half-brother," Frank said. His face turned into confusion as he didn't realize what Percy had asked for. "Why?"

Instead of answering, Percy asked another related question. "So, like, Nico is my cousin. That makes him yours too, right?"

"Yeah...?" Frank answered slowly.

The shimmer in Percy's eye sparkled dangerously bright, causing Leo to grin despite the situation being rather lacking in humor. He caught on immediately and saw exactly what Percy was going for. Just as Leo realized it, Jason caught on and Nico's eyes grew wide.

Before anyone could yell anything out, Percy shouted the point of his questions. "So you're dating your cousin?!"

The effect was instantaneous.

"DUDE!"

"WHAT THE HADES!?"

"FRANK, MAN, THAT'S SO GNARLY!"

The shouts from Leo, Jason and Nico respectively all rang out simultaneously, shocking Frank. He hadn't gotten Percy's rather subtle hints... up until the last possible moment.

Frank, unfortunately for him, had no answer for the question posed. He only could sit in absolute shock at the question and shield his blush from the guys that sat around the fire, each portraying their own emotion to the situation. Leo was laughing outrageously, loving how quickly the topics had been changed. The situation was just... well, he, Leo Valdez, had seen some weird things in his days.

This, though, took the cake.

Jason was just shocked but laughing as well. It was more of a chuckle in disbelief as he stared at Frank with raised eyebrows and wide eyes. He laughed slightly while just shaking his head. He could never imaging dating a cousin of his; it was just... wrong. To him, anyways.

Nico, on the other hand, was just staring in horror at the sudden change in occurrence. He was hunched over, retching for added effect. Just a minute ago, he'd learned his sister was dating baby-faced Frank Zheng.

Just a second ago, he'd learned his sister was dating her technical 'cousin'.

"How wrong is that?!" Nico said loudly. He couldn't manage to find the words he wanted to express, so he just shouted whatever floated around in his shell-shocked mind.

Frank sighed. "Percy, you may be a terrifying fighter. You may be the strongest demigod here, no offense Jason," Frank said, to which Jason raised his hands in defeat. He knew they were close in strengths. "But seriously?! Why would you even bring something like that up?!"

Percy shrugged. "I dunno, it just crossed my mind."

"What kind of person thinks stuff like that?" Nico asked, giving him a sideways glance. He was still stunned about the sudden development, but he had enough of him to do his own minor interrogation toward the son of Poseidon.

"I do; that's why I asked," Percy said plainly. Leo and Jason sniggered at this new exchanged.

"If only we had some popcorn," Leo whispered to which Jason merely nodded.

Nico just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is just... awkward now. Thank you, Percy."

"You're welcome Nico. And to answer you, Frank, I ask 'cause it's just one of those things that was bound to come up sooner or later."

Frank gaped at him. "I never thought of that and I doubt anyone would have."

"But still!" Nico said, shaking his head once again. He cradled his head in his hands as he sighed aloud.

"We have... very messed up families," Frank said, to which everyone silenced at. After a moment (and a crack of thunder), the teens rose their drinks.

"Agreed," they chorused and tapped the brim of their sodas together and drank all at once.

The forest went silent once more, with only the sound of the crackling fire disrupting the blanket of silence.

"So, Jason," Percy began.

"Oh gods..."

* * *

_So how was that? Not too funny, I admit..._

_But it certainly could have made you think. I remember reading the story and seeing the blood-line relation and stuff and then it occurred to me... 'hey, isn't that like dating a cousin?'_

_Anyways, feel free to leave ideas. They don't need to have everyone and they can be brotherly moments or something, but the point of this story is to really get the relations between the guys going. Thanks for reading this chapter!  
_

_-RiotRunner  
_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. If I did, I'd be ready to publish the _Mark of Athena._

_There were some really positive reviews on the last chapter. That's good! That's really good. This chapter was a bit harder since I had Jason and Percy go at it. At first, I tried to think of something that Jason had, but I settled on something else. Get ready for some more antics! _

* * *

"So, Jason..." Percy began, a mischievous glint in his sea-green eyes. Jason, despite having faced monsters so powerful and dangerous they could scare a god, began to slowly feel a trace of fear grip his heart. Who knew what the deranged mind of Percy Jackson could come out with next?

The two words that came from Jason's mouth were the only fitting words. "Oh gods..."

"Wait, wait, wait," Nico interrupted. Percy frowned and glared at his younger cousin.

"What? Can't you see I was about to freak out Jason?"

Jason glared at Percy, who pretended not to notice. Nico smirked. "Yes, but I had a question for you."

Percy smirked. "Go on, ask."

The exchanges of looks around the campfire were all interested and quite eager to hear the son of Hades question.

"How come it took you 4 years to admit to Annabeth that you liked her?"

Silence.

"Dude, not cool."

Laughter erupted from the guys- minus Percy- like a volcano spewing lava. Frank had completely forgotten about his previous interrogation and joined in on the laughter at Percy's expense.

"It was a... different scenario," Percy said hesitantly.

"How so?" Leo asked with a giant grin. Percy scowled at him and bit back a comment about him and Thalia. He'd already poked his fun about the two; now he had to take the heat.

Percy took a breath and waited for the laughter to settle down.

"Luke had a tight grip on her emotions... she never seemed to really show signs of anything but love for him," Percy explained, his eyes reflecting the roaring fire in front of them. It was true; throughout their journeys, Annabeth always was touchy about Luke. Thus, Percy never got the opportunity to really confide in her and let her know how he felt.

"Luke?" Jason asked. Being Roman, he had been absent for anything Greek. The same went for Frank. As Percy thought about it, only Nico had any knowledge of Luke; and it wasn't much.

"Luke was..." Percy began, but faltered. He didn't quite know how to describe the Son of Hermes. As a hero, or a traitor? "Luke was interesting. He tried to kill me right after my first quest, and he almost succeeded. It was very close. After that, he was only seen as my enemy. We fought a few times, the most memorable being in the Titan War. He was so... strong then, it was almost unbearable. He was influenced by Kronos, but still. In the end, he ended up 'sacrificing' himself to save all of us, but... some days, I really don't know."

Percy sighed and stared into the fire. He didn't mean to make Luke into a bad guy- it was actually almost the contrary. He thought of Luke as someone who wasn't corrupt- he was just confused and didn't see the error until the absolute end when it was too late to change the past.

It wasn't Nico that spoke up, but Leo. "You said sacrificing with a lot of hesitance..."

Percy sighed and nodded. He wished he had an answer, but honestly, he had nothing. There was nothing he could say.

"Percy... do you feel like... she's just using you?" Jason asked a bit surprised. He'd never known the teenager of the waves to be so... conflicted like that. Jason, as a demigod, knew life was never easy.

They had messed up pasts. Leo had burned down his house and killed his mother on accident. Frank had lost his mother in war and lived only with his grandmother. Nico was stuck in a time-altering hotel for a long time and lost his sister. Even he lost his memory in a swap with Percy.

They had weird abilities or things that separated them from the rest of their siblings- Leo controlled fire, Frank's life was based on a match and he could change into animals, Nico was Nico- he controlled the dead and Jason was a son of the sky god. Percy controlled water and could breath underwater- he was odd too. He also had no siblings.

So when it came down to it, Jason was grateful for never having a complicated romance life. He had Reyna, true, but they never dated. In time, like she'd said to Percy, they may have, but they never got around to it. Instead, he had Piper and that was it. No long strings attached.

Leo didn't have anyone- yet. But (even as hard as it was for Jason since Thalia was his sister) he was close on Thalia. The two could start dating- if Thalia ever called back her Hunter's blessing.

Even Frank and Hazel had a simple love-life. It was friends to relationship-ers. Nothing too difficult there.

But Percy... he had Luke that also played a part. He couldn't just date Annabeth. There had to be some kind of issue, some kind of problem that kept him from being happy with her. And she'd never seen it.

"No."

The immediate response by Percy was to be expected. But the pain in his eyes and body language said that he thought it at one point.

"Does... does she even know?" Nico asked quietly. To this, Percy was silent. The guys exchanged a glance and immediately, Percy was on guard.

"What are you all looking at...?" He asked. None of them spoke, instead, opting to remain silent. Percy felt annoyance bubble underneath his skin, but chose to not say anything due to the fact that Nico rose his hand.

Just like he was in a classroom.

"Yes, Nico?"

"Is that the only thing?"

Percy scowled but decided it was time for a facade. He knew it was time for laughs to reign once again.

"Well, we were also only like, 12. What kind of teens _date _at 12? No, I had to be role-model," Percy said with a smirk.

The guys broke into a laughter, this time, Percy joining them. He felt his emotions shifting like a kaleidoscope, but he just kept taking deeper breaths then usual and suppressing the bad feelings. Now was not a time to go and let anything bad grip him. It was a time to enjoy the presence of friends.

"Role model for who?" Nico asked in between breaths.

Percy just grinned wider. "Why, the many that followed the adventures of Percy Jackson!"

The laughter just continued, Percy observing his efforts in approval. Jason was grinning and chuckling- he refusing to fall into the fits of laughter like Leo was. Personally, he knew that what he'd said wasn't extremely funny, but he felt like they were all trying to make him feel like he was actually being quite humorous.

"Somehow, I feel like the pigeons enjoyed you," Frank snorted.

Percy shrugged. "Some people are cat-crazy. Me? I'm pigeon crazy."

"Not fish?" Leo asked, grinning like a mad-man. The fire was crackling loudly in response to Leo's loud laughter and enjoyment toward the jokes being tossed around. Being the jester of everything, he found many things funnier then they were meant to be.

"Fish are friends... but pigeons understand me," Percy commented, as if he was a pigeon-talker. Jason couldn't help but jump into the comment-fest.

"I thought Poseidon invented _horses, _not pigeons."

Percy was silent for a moment.

"They both have wings... sort of."

The group laughed again, Leo once more, laughing the loudest. He wanted to feast on the marshmallow bag to his left, but he knew if he took a gooey treat into his mouth now, someone may need to apply the Heimlich to get him to breath again.

"Well guys," Percy said, stretching out his arms. His face was dimly lit by the fire, showing off the emotion in his sea-green eyes. Jason couldn't help but wonder how he managed to seem so fine, yet he wasn't quite so. "I think it's time for me to hit the hay."

"If you understand the horse reference," Nico mumbled low enough for Frank and Leo to hear. The two did their best to stifle their laughter, but a few snorts escaped from the fire-manipulator, thus drawing a look from Percy. He rolled his eyes and moved over to his tent. It was green with a pattern of waves on the bottom of the felt.

"Night guys," Percy called, and the guys mumbled their responses. However, they all lowered their heads and did their best to stifle their grins.

They all grinned widely as they heard the faint sound a zipper being pulled down. They saw the tent shift as Percy removed his clothes to put on his pajamas. They heard a content sigh as they heard something thud against the floor.

Then, they heard a squelching sound and they all began to snort.

"OKAY, WHO FILLED MY SLEEPING BAG WITH JELLO?!" Percy yelled.

The laughter broke out as they heard Percy swear a colorful variety of Greek, Roman and even English swears.

"Don't worry Percy," Nico called, he being the one with the least amount of laughter on his voice. "Jello is almost all water. You can just move it out."

"It doesn't work like that corpse-breath!" Percy shouted, causing Nico to shrug.

"It's everywhere..." Percy moaned as the guys heard another squelch as he presumably moved out of his sleeping bag.

"You can get the spare," Leo called through his fits of laughter. They saw Percy, sticky with green jello, march out of his tent in nothing but a pair of "Finding Nemo" pants and grab the rolled up bag. Once more, the group burst into laughter.

"I hate all of you," Percy muttered as he re-zipped his tent.

The laughter began to die down, but none of the guys could get a grip on themselves.

"Who's ever idea that was..." Frank began. "Is a complete genius."

Nico held up his hands while bowing his head, a smirk written across his face.

Leo continued to laugh, but he, surprisingly, was the first to die down. A look of thought was crossed on his face as he stared into the clear summer night. Stars sprinkled the unpolluted sky, casting a milky light down from above. Even with the roaring fire, it wasn't hard to see the smooth white light that dimly illuminated the surrounding forest. Even with monsters inside, the forest seemed less scary than usual.

"Guys?" Leo asked, his eyes still trained on the night-time sky. He couldn't tell if anyone was paying attention to him, or if they were too busy high-fiving each other, but he wanted to do at least one thing this night.

"I want to do something- for Percy."

* * *

_What could Leo want to do? This chapter isn't as humorous, but there is something developing. These chapters will also be kind of short, cause this is more humor than it is a full-developing story. But there is some mild story arc. I'm thinking it will be a few more chapters with some more humor introduced, then after it's "done" it will be occasionally updated. _

_So don't lose faith! Review, and thanks!  
_


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

_Well, this story has become a bit of a demand for people. Yes; there is a rising demand for an update. To be honest, this was actually only supposed to be a one-shot at one point, but hey, I can work with it. I'm not sure how many chapters are left, maybe 2 or 3 more, we'll see. Doubtful on a sequel. Anyways, let's get to the action. This chapter does lose a bit of its humor, but it's not angst-y really. _

_I don't hate Luke, also, but I just feel like he was forgiven easily for what he did. He made life incredibly difficult in Percy's life and really messed with his emotions in terms of Annabeth. She was obsessed with him and than just forgot about him as she said he was a brother. I feel like she didn't mean that. No flaming me about that, I like him, but I feel like there's more to exploit there.  
_

_So enjoy and PLEASE review!_

* * *

_Last Time:  
_

"_Guys?" Leo asked, his eyes still trained on the night-time sky. He couldn't tell if anyone was paying attention to him, or if they were too busy high-fiving each other, but he wanted to do at least one thing this night._

_"I want to do something- for Percy."_

* * *

"You want to do something to Percy?" Jason asked, his eyebrows raised and a weird look on his face. Leo sighed; for once, he _hated _being misunderstood so often.

"No, but keep thinking like that and Piper'll have your head," Leo said with a satisfied smirk. He'd never been the best with comebacks, but judging by the way Jason's face paled, and the way the others reacted with jeers, Leo would say he'd done good in that one.

Just for effect, Nico leaned over and whispered loudly, "Burnnn."

Jason scowled at Nico but gave Leo a small smile. He gave a nod, like he was giving approval for that comeback.

Leo smiled. He than turned serious once more. "I was thinking about something Perce said. About Annabeth."

Immediately, the humorous atmosphere paled and the small camp went silent, as if the laughter had been sucked out when Annabeth was mentioned. Nico and Frank exchanged a glance, followed by a curious look from Jason.

"Remember; he said that Luke was... well, Luke. I dunno the guy, but it doesn't sound like he was really a good friend of Percy's. I mean, yeah, it sounds all heroic about his death and stuff... but there's more to the end than just the ending, right?"

A few nods.

"I just feel like Annabeth should... I don't know... be aware of this, you know? She should know," Leo explained. He didn't know what was inspiring him to want to help so much, but he just knew that Percy would do the same if he was in Leo's shoes.

"You're right," Jason said quietly. He looked at Leo with his sky-blue eyes and nodded once. "You're right. We should do this for Percy."

Nico coughed, drawing the attention of the 3 other demigods. "How're we gonna go about doing this?"

Jason and Leo exchanged an unsure look, drawing Nico to roll his eyes.

"Excellent plan, Valdez. Oh wait... there is no plan!"

Leo smirked. "Who says we need one?"

Nico rolled his eyes again. "Me; I don't want to _die _because someone was dumb enough to just walk up to the Athena cabin and tell her something we all know she won't take easily."

Leo seemed to consider this, his gaze settling on the fire.

"If the cabin is the issue, we could just l-"

"No lighting _anything _on fire, Leo," Jason said boredly.

"Come on, just one thing!"

"No."

Leo sighed and drew a stick from the ground. Prodding the fire, he watched the small embers fly into the air and scatter, as if being too close was dangerous for them.

"Why don't we just... you know, distract them?" Frank suggested with a shrug of his large shoulders. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy- than again, it could've been a look saying '_you're-a-genius!'_

__"Not a bad plan, Zheng," Leo mused. Frank rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"_So _glad I met approval."

Leo smirked. "So who's the distraction unit?"

Frank, immediately, rose his hand. It was a bit unexpected, but when it came to surprises, everyone knew Frank was full of them.

"I can change into animals; easy distraction," Frank said proudly. Jason muttered something to Nico, who ended up snorting in laughter. The son of Mars glared over in the Romans direction, but didn't say anything in fear of being exploited aloud. Jason could be devious, if provoked.

"Can you do rabid squirrel?" Leo asked excitedly. Frank gave him a weird look but shrugged anyway.

Leo cackled, the light of the fire not helping his image any.

Nico scooted away from the fire a bit, submerging himself in the darkness more. "It's times like this where I really do question your mental sanity..."

Leo ignored the jab and rubbed his hands together, ignoring the flames that ignited upon the friction. The gleam in his eye was unmistakable for something Travis or Connor Stoll would have- it was almost like Leo was a sibling of theirs.

"So I'll join in with that. You'll be a rabid squirrel, trying to attack me. I'll run into the cabin's door and try and get them to 'help' me, while you chase me. Nico," Leo said, looking directly at Nico with the same ominously scary smile, "I need you to keep the night dark. Add some skeletons if need be; just keep them away from the cabin."

"This will not end well, I assure you!" Nico's protests fell onto deaf ears.

"What about me?" Jason asked. He was genuinely curious- and a bit terrified- to learn his part. Sure, he'd faced Giants and even a god possibly, but nothing, and he knew _nothing_ could compare to Leo when he was on a creative-streak.

"You, Jason?" Jason nodded, albeit, hesitantly. Leo's smile grew larger, if possible. "You have the most important job of all..."

* * *

"SOMEONE, HELP!"

Cries of terror ran throughout camp, immediately drawing several lights on from the cabins. Those demigods that couldn't sleep immediately rushed outside, weapons drawn and ready for anything. What they saw, however, was not what they were expecting.

"Amateur..." Nico mumbled from the safety of his shadows. He couldn't help but smirk as Leo ran around, looking like a completely idiot, chased by a mere squirrel.

"What's the matter, Valdez?!" Clarisse yelled from the door of her cabin, a giant grin across her face. Her cabinmates were laughing hysterically at the sight of Leo. "Squirrel getting the best of you?"

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Leo yelled back, continuing on with his act. Nico couldn't help but admit, he seemed fairly convincing. "THIS THING HAS IT OUT FOR ME!"

If possible, the Ares cabin broke into harder laughter.

Leo, making sure he ran to the Athena cabin to set their plan into motion, couldn't help but notice how Annabeth, despite being fairly asleep still, was wearing a particular shirt that Leo was almost _positive _belonged to Percy. A _Finding Nemo _shirt.

He grinned; that was coming up later.

"Please!" Leo pleaded as he skid to a halt in front of the sniggering Athena cabin. "Help a brother out!"

Annabeth decided to answer for her cabin. With a smirk, "You're not Athena related."

Leo rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean! One demi to another!"

Annabeth crossed her arms and smirked. Turning to her half-brother, Malcolm, she sighed but couldn't keep the grin off her face. "Want to help him? Consider it 'male-bonding'."

Malcolm grumbled something about 'unfair' and 'not-related' but exited from behind Annabeth. Leo, realizing they needed _all _of the Athenian campers from the cabin, decided to play desperate. He sighed internally, unbelieving he'd go this far, just to help Percy.

Letting out a cry that probably couldn't be replicated, even if his life depended on it, Leo gave a loud signal to Nico, letting him know they needed skeletons.

Lots and lots of skeletons.

For effect, however, Leo decided to make it interesting.

"Yo, Nico! Wanna help a bro out?"

"Not really," Nico said, leaning against his tree causally. He suspected it was part of Leo's plan to draw him out, but he had no idea what to expect now.

"Good," Leo said with a wild smile. "Lookin' at you, I doubt you'd be able to help anyways."

That effectively ticked off the son of Hades, who growled, and summoned several skeletons warriors around Leo. This time, Leo didn't need to pretend to be freaked out. He _was _freaked out.

"Okay; now we all jump in..." Annabeth muttered. She turned to her sleep-dazed cabin-mates. "Help him... I'm gonna grab my dagger..."

They ran outside, still under the influence of sleep, and Annabeth sighed as she went into the cabin to find her dagger. What she found instead, caused her to freak.

"JASON!? WHAT'RE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"

He sighed.

"Most important job my ass..."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson!

_We're beginning to approach the end of this short story. Well, not really the end, persay, but we are ending the story arc soon. This story, once 'completed' will only be updated rarely to accommodate for a random story involving another night out. Doubtful it'll surpass 9 or so chapters, but we will see._

_Nothing else to add, so please, continue to review! Thanks!_

* * *

_Last time:_

_"JASON!? WHAT'RE YOU DOING IN HERE?!"_

_He sighed._

_"Most important job my ass..."_

* * *

Annabeth's expectant, yet also intense, gaze settled on the son of Jupiter. He shifted slightly, completely uncomfortable with the situation on hand. He couldn't believe he'd gotten roped into doing the suicidal part of the mission. _  
_

'_Percy, you better enjoy this...' _

"I, um, needed to talk to you..."

"And it couldn't wait until morning, huh?" Annabeth asked, crossing her arms. Her gaze hadn't yet settled, further causing friction between the Greek and the Roman. Jason sighed; how does one go about this?

"Not really; no," Jason said plainly. He knew it probably could've, but hey, Leo couldn't hold out forever. "I just, it was something that came up recently."

Annabeth's eyes narrowed. Jason could almost feel her piercing gaze searching his soul for the truth.

_'Father, help me...' _Jason prayed silently. There was no painless way out- unless the window counted.

"You see... it's about Percy."

Annabeth's glare immediately softened and her eyes turned less stormy. Jason felt the shift in emotion in the room, wondering if just his name was enough to calm down a furious Annabeth.

'_Keep for future use,' _Jason noted. '_C__ould be useful...'_

"Go on..." She said forced, yet calmly. Jason took a breath in.

"He's... h-he's... male."

Annabeth just stared at Jason. He wanted to slap himself; out of _anything _that could've been said, he had to say the dumbest thing possible.

"Well..." Annabeth began, an eyebrow raised in pure confusion. "That's... that's good."

Jason sighed. There just was no easy way to say this.

"That's not what I meant to say," Jason said, slapping a hand onto his face. Annabeth frowned.

"So, he's _not _male?"

"Wh-what?" Jason asked, now thoroughly shocked. His accident had caused a major backfire. "No, that's not what I- he is. I mean, I'd think. He doesn't seem to react well when he's hit in the family jewel box. Although, I guess for him it'd be the pearl box, wouldn't it?"

"Um, I guess. Look, Jason, I like you, but if you wanted to come in here and talk about Percy's... _pearls, _you could've waited until morning," Annabeth advised. Her earlier task of finding her dagger and helping out a very suspicious son of Hephaestus had been completely forgotten- a rare instance for a child of Athena.

Jason's eyes widened. "No! I mean, that's not my reason to be here. Look... ugh! This is so difficult!" Jason swore in Roman, completely unable to find a way to talk to Annabeth about the _problem_.

Annabeth's eyebrow was getting stuck into its raised position with how often she was raising it.

"To clarify; I'm like, 99% sure he's male, forget the pearl comment and I need to talk to you about him."

Annabeth flashed him a confused frown. "Haven't we been talking this entire time?"

'_Oh gods...' _Jason thought to himself as he sighed, frustrated. '_How does Percy do this? She's so intimidating! Even for a Greek...'_

"Yes, but not about what I need to say."

"Then speak," Annabeth said impatiently. Jason huffed.

"Fine; Annabeth, what do you think about Lu-"

"ABANDON PLAN!"

Jason froze.

_'What did Leo just say?' _He thought. He frowned before nervously laughing. He could've sworn that he'd just heard Leo yell out 'abandon plan'. But that was impossible- there was no reason to abandon the plan. Not unless... they'd forgotten something.

He looked back at Annabeth before taking a step back in fear. Her stormy gray eyes were dark and she did _not _seem happy.

"Care to elaborate upon Valdez's call?"

"Now that you ask..." Jason said, doing his best to remain completely stoic. To his credit, he remained completely straight-faced, before he made a decision. "No; I'd rather not. Have a nice night!"

Then, with the style only Jason Grace could replicate, he jumped out the window of the Athena cabin. The shatter of glass brought Annabeth to her senses as she sprinted over to the window, peering outside and avoiding the broken glass. Jason hit the ground with a heavy thud before shaking off the shards of glass. Getting to his feet in a rush, he took off in the direction of the forest.

"GRACE! GET BACK HERE! YOU'RE IN DEEP TROUBLE WHEN I FIND YOU!" Annabeth yelled, her voice fading as Jason maneuvered gracefully (get it? Grace- gracefully?) through the thick trunked trees. He didn't dare turn around in fear of finding Annabeth in hot pursuit, brandishing her knife.

It wasn't too long of a run before he reached the break in the trees and found the dim campfire still lit, Leo, Frank and Nico all huddled around it, each covered in their random scrapes and bruises. Leo, by far, was the worst for wear, having a large slice in the front of his shirt. It was easy to see an Athenian camper managed to get a shot at him with a blunt-tipped arrow.

"Anyone care to explain what in Jupiter's name just happened?!" Jason asked forcefully. He wasn't particularly _mad, _just scared senseless.

Leo moaned, but stood up shakily. "An un-accounted error; that's what."

* * *

**(Takes place while Jason is talking... or trying to)**

"Jason is in," Leo whispered frantically as Frank made a pass-by in his rabid squirrel form. He seemed less intent on causing havoc for Leo, and more intent on the skeleton warriors that now littered the campground, courteous of Nico's temper.

Frank would've replied, but he was stuck in squirrel form and also unable to speak due to the large number of skeletons on his tail- literally.

'_Now to keep them preoccupied long enough to get Annabeth a clue,' _Leo thought. He grinned. Operation: Clue-giver was going off without a hitch. Nothing could go wrong now.

"Where the Hades did these skeletons come from?!" Piper yelled.

'_Uh-oh... Piper... she might be a slight problem- if Jason is caught.'_

"Well, I might've accidentally, possibly, mayb-ily, made Nico mad," Leo explained as he summoned a fireball. He knew destroyed a skeleton wouldn't hurt Nico, so he went to work, reducing them to dust. He gave Piper a nervous chuckle and grin as she sliced a skeleton in half, before turning to him, completely unamused.

"Really? Really fire-boy?"

"What can I say; I have a talent for making people irate?"

"Shut up and slice the skeletons."

Leo shut his mouth and made sure he worked harder at taking care of the skeletons. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his back-up- the Athena cabin. After his desperate plea, it was good to see they'd at least acknowledged he needed help. Now it was a matter of sneaking away before things went to Hades in a hand-basket.

"WHAT IS GOING ON OUT HERE?!"

Silence. The skeletons, seemingly sensing the new danger, disappeared into the ground. Leo could've sworn one of them gave him a smirk.

_'Chiron? HOW COULD WE FORGOT CHIRON?!'_

"Uh, nothing..." Leo mumbled, barely loud enough to be heard. But the effect was instantaneous. Chiron rounded on the fire-child, an unamused look embedded in his eyes.

"Then why am I up?"

Leo wanted to shrug and play it sarcastic. But he knew it'd go wrong, _fast._

"I-I'm not sure... sir," Leo added, after seeing the disapproving look on Chiron's face. "But those are some nice... er, tail-curlers."

The angry look on Chiron's face immediately switched to fear as he craned his neck to see if Leo spoke the truth.

"I didn't leave them in, did I?"

Chiron turned back around, and was surprised to find Leo missing. He looked around, completely shell-shocked, before spying out Leo with his loud voice.

"ABANDON PLAN!"

Leo sprinted past the shocked and quickly turning angry campers, narrowing dodging a thrown spear. He felt the campers preparing their weapons, almost to the point of wanting to skewer him.

A lucky shot by some camper, Leo assumed to be an Athenian, ended up piercing his shirt and slamming into his ribs. Blunt-tipped; lucky break.

"FRANK, NICO! ABANDON!" Leo called once more before disappearing in the thick of the trees.

He could only hope his friends followed suit.

* * *

"And yeah, that's what went down."

Jason's eye twitched as he sat down in a huff. He could barely contain his lingering anger; how could they do something so stupid?

"H-how could we forget Chiron?" Jason asked in his forced calm voice.

Leo shrugged. "Let's face it; our plan was very one directional..."

Frank sighed, speaking for the first time. "So, did you at least tell Annabeth?"

Silence.

"JASON!"

"GODS DAMMIT!"

"Oh fu-"

"SORRY! I WAS ABOUT TO BE SLICED!" Jason defended. Frank, Nico and Leo all responded at the same time to the silence, obviously not happy with the way the plan had failed. Leo nearly fell back from the log, realizing they were now marked men.

"So what now?" Nico asked quietly. Nobody bothered to respond. No one knew what to say.

Frank slowly spoke. "We could hide in some holes...?"

"Or, you could tell me what happened?"

Everyone froze. Slowly, Leo was the first to turn around to see a large Percy Jackson standing just next to his tent, clearly amused by the look on his face.

"How did we forget about Percy, too...?"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson.

_So you are probably wondering where I went. Well, I was hospitalized and there was, for a time, a doubt that I was going to be returning. Gun shot wound, what can you do? I mean, other than avoiding areas where crime-rates are high, yada-yada. Anyways, I am back AND alive!_

_Woo-hoo?  
_

_I dunno, you might hate me. Eh, it's fine if you do. Regardless, I'm ready to deliver chapter 5, here you go._

* * *

_Last time:  
_

_"Or you could tell me what happened?"  
_

_"How did we forget about Percy, too...?"_

* * *

"Wow... we _really _suck at planning," Nico idly commented as he laid on the ground, facing the sky.

"Yeah," Percy said with a smirk. "You really do. Now fess up; what's this about planning?"

Jason and Leo exchanged nervous glances. They weren't scared of Percy; he may have been big and strong, but he wasn't one of those guys who'd unnecessarily hurt them. Even if Jason could hold his own against the Greek child of the Big Three, he currently wasn't in the mindset to hold off an sort of onslaught- and Leo, powerful as he was, was also tired and relatively out of it.

Frank, being the usual voice of reason, decided if anyone was going to get them out of their dilemma, it'd be him.

"You see Percy, we decided- well, no, _we _didn't. _Leo_," Frank said, ignoring the outburst from said child of fire, "had a plan to go and talk to Annabeth about something, and we decided to go off of his lead."

Percy seemed to consider this before he grinned and shook his head with a quiet 'tsk' noise. "I thought you'd be smart enough to know that Leo is an extremely good mechanic and good with his hands and machines... not people."

The three teenagers, minus Leo, seemed to consider this before letting out one collective groan. Percy chuckled softly to himself as he stretched out and took a seat next to the sprawled out Nico. Nobody spoke for a moment; the silence settling on the group like fresh snow on a stilled town. Nobody wanted to be the first to start the avalanche.

"You know..." Percy began, looking from one of his fellow demigods to another. "I still don't know what happened."

Nico shrugged from his laying position. "It isn't so much that you need to know the details, you just need to know that we really, really messed up. Might have made Annabeth mad."

Percy snorted. "I do that daily; you're fine. Just apologize and beg for it. It's worth the loss of pride, trust me."

Nico frowned. Before he had a chance to comment on how he did like his pride, Leo piped up, embarrassment on his face.

"We also managed to get under Malcome's skin."

"Again, you're fine. He's a bit of a baby, you're fine."

Frank fiddled with his hands. "Uh... well, we _might _have also made the entire Athena cabin upset." There was a silence, causing Frank to peek up at Percy. The son of the seas had an eyebrow raised.

"Wow, you guys really did mess up. That's only happened once before and it was... wait... you guys didn't straddle Annabeth, did you?!"

A quick volley of 'no' rose from the small group, causing Percy to sigh in relief. "Good... not only do I not need to kill you, but that would have been really awkward..."

"So..." Frank began. "How do we get them off our back?"

Percy frowned into the fire. He shrugged after a moment.

"Beg."

There was a silence among the other men, a few exchanged glances, before they all mumbled and nodded, commenting it wasn't worth the hassle of hiding. Percy snorted in laughter again.

"Wait; we might have also p.o'ed Chiron," Jason mumbled. Percy sighed and rubbed his temple with a free hand while propping his other elbow on his knee. Muttering under his breath, Percy looked at Jason, exhaustion on his face once again.

"What could you have possibly done to get _Chiron _mad? He's so... jello."

Silence.

"Jello?" Nico asked as he temporarily picked his head up from the ground. Percy shrugged.

"Yeah, jello. It's so chill and stuff," Percy explained. Although his explanation failed, there was a few stifled chuckles.

"Anyways," Percy continued, minding the fact that he had to be more careful picking his words. "You just need to tell him what you were doing... and by him, I also mean me. I think there's a point where once you piss off half of the camp, and the one of the camp leader's girlfriends, you should tell them- and in that case, that'd be me."

"Well," Leo said, putting emphasis on the 'l' in well. "It's not that we don't trust you..."

"But seeing as how we're already dead, there's no point in hearing you mock us," Nico added as he set his head back on the ground, staring back up into the sky. Percy, getting a bit fed up with the evasion, sighed and frowned slightly.

"Look, you all have crossed a line, obviously. Now, I need to know _how _far you're over it. I won't mock you, you should know that." The guys exchanged a single glance and than stared at Jason. The son of Jupiter scowled, knowing what they wanted- they wanted him to tell Percy.

"Fine! But only because they're all babies!" Jason grumbled. Percy resisted the urge to snicker. Frank and Nico both shrugged and Leo flashed him a grin.

"Rather be a baby than dead."

Jason took a breath in. "We thought about what you said about Luke. And about how Annabeth had droned over him for awhile and you had never let it bother you- or never really took it up with her. She should know about that... because trust is imperative, you know? And even though he came out to be a good guy in the end, it's still a topic that you two should have. Who knows? It may remove a rift, and help you two to become closer."

"If that's possible," Leo added courageously.

Percy, staring at Jason with a blank, unreadable expression in his eyes, slowly shook his head and bowed his head into his hands as he sat on the log. Jason exchanged a glance with Leo translating '_Is-he-okay?'_. Slowly, a short chuckle escaped from the stressed son of the sea god and escalated into a more continuous and steady laughter.

"Y-you really would do that?"

Jason frowned. "Do what? Talk to Annabeth? Yeah, she's not that scary..."

Percy shook his head, looking up at Jason with his typical grin. "You miss what I've said; she's _very_ touchy about that. It'd be suicide. No; it's just something to forget about."

Leo, however, surprised everyone by shaking his head and mumbling 'no'. He locked eyes with Percy and, for a second, Percy could feel the boy's thoughts and his disagreement.

"You need to be on the same page. That means confessing the truths. No lying, no hiding... if we can't- you can."

"I..." Percy stumbled over his words, trying his best to pick one that would get everyone off his case. But as he stared into their lightly illuminated faces, he realized, there was no escaping this.

Grumbling, Percy stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Fine."

"Good!" Leo said cheerily. "Now we just need to get the camp to not kill us!"

A snap in the bushes froze the group.

"That," said a girl as she stepped out, her bronze dagger glinting with the flashes of the fire. "Is going to be _pretty _hard."

* * *

_Alright, not so good of a chapter- it's not too funny nor is it much. Sorry, gotta get my mojo back. _

_Review please and don't flame.  
_


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